Nuts. I was browsing TF news on Siebertron.com today, and they posted a link to a 3-page preview of the new upcoming Transformers comic series. Super mega spoilers. They warned me, but I just can't resist. I've been so jazzed about the upcoming series I just had to look. I couldn't wait until the 18th when it's released. Nooooooooo.

( !!!SUPER MEGA SPOILERS! SRSLY!!! )

Guh. Need to go to bed now. >_O

First year ever that I didn't carve a jack-o-lantern. u_u I was all jazzed to try out my rotary tool, too. Halloween may be over, but maybe I'll do as Holly suggested and get a cheap pumpkin and carve it anyway! XP

We went for a road trip to Cincinnati for Halloween this year. There was a toy show Nov 1st, so we drove to Cincinnati on Halloween and stayed the night in a hotel, then returned today after the toy show. We arrived in the early evening on Halloween, so Jess and I put on our costumes and went for a stroll around the mall and grabbed dinner. Then went back to the hotel for the night, so we could get up early to hit the toy show. We wore our costumes to the toy show, too. No one seemed to really understand what the heck we were dressed as. I got a few new toys, though. I got vintage Starscream, Red Alert, Blurr, and Beachcomber (the guy gave me Beachcomber for free, 'cause I buy stuff from him at pretty much every toy convention). Also, I got two awesome Martian Manhunter figures at a comic shop the day we arrived.

My costume looked completely stupid, but I worked really hard on it. I stenciled and painted/colored the hoodie and shoes, and the stupid skirt took me practically 3 days of meticulous hand sewing because the sewing machine is broken. (It was originally a pair of shorts which were about 4 sizes too big, but I took them in, turned them into a skirt, hemmed it, made cargo pockets out of the scrap fabric, and added some awesome grey reflective stuff I found at the fabric store. It turned out pretty good. Too bad it didn't really have anything to do with the character.)

( Jess and I in costume )

Pretty sure absolutely no one understood our costumes. Someone wolf-whistled at us, though, which made me uncomfortable until Jess made me laugh by saying "They must think robots are sexy." A couple people saw the Autobot and Decepticon logos and were like "Transformers! I get it! You're a good guy and she's a bad guy!" but I don't think anyone actually got that we were trying to represent actual characters. Whatever. We don't have a lot of serious Transformers fans around here. I did however have an Italian guy at the mall recognize the logo on my left shoe and be like "Alitalla! I used to work for that airline! You make those? You are amazing girl!" but then he started trying to sell us hair styling appliances and we had to get out of there. Bleh. Whatever. We're home now.

Work is going pretty well. I've mostly been doing a lot of filing and validation stuff. It's all a bunch of lack-luster grunt work, but I seem to be pretty efficient at it. They're gradually teaching me more and more stuff, but right now they're so far behind on filing and validation that they're just letting me do that for now. I've been bringing ELI (my mp3 player) to work with me, so I can listen to a little music while I'm pouring over mountains of paperwork. No complaints, really. Sure, it's dull, but I have plenty of crap to do, so I don't have time to get bored, and I don't have do deal with customers or sell crap. And I get a bit of exercise walking to and from work every day (it's about a 2 2/3 mile round trip).

ALSO! As I mentioned before, I HAVE MY OWN DESK! And I did indeed bring some crap from home to personalize my little space. X3

( My desk! )

Bleh, spamming today. I keep forgetting to post these, though! So I'd better do it while I'm thinking about it.

Autumn showed me this, and I couldn't stop laughing:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1PwpcUawjK0


And here are a couple new ones from ItsJustSomeRandomGuy's "I'm a Marvel and I'm a DC"

I love all of the Watchmen ones, but this one is my favorite!: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=G1R5PhReY5k&feature=channel_page

Star Trek 2009 trailer parody: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Wus6Hp664XI&feature=channel_page

Talking about Transformers: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=siGtn_SxKbs&feature=channel_page

Trailer parodies for Drag me to Hell, Up, and The Hangover: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PxINN1o0FaA&feature=channel_page

Trailer parodies for Inglourious Basterds and District 9: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MjvsogIMj1A&feature=channel_page

Talking about Green Lantern: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5xcMxnNzp2I&feature=channel_page


Aaaaand one that isn't a video. A short crack!fic in which the Watchmen characters go to Hollywood and star in a staged-blooper TV show:
http://www.comicbookresources.com/?page=article&id=13574

OKAY! So we had our VACATION last week! I'm well overdue posting an update about it. I'll try to give a decent run-down, even though I'll probably forget a great deal of the details.

Sunday we got to California at around 7:30 and Holly and Ellen met us at the airport! 8D We had a hard time finding each other, though. We kept calling each other and Holly was like "What can you see? What does the sign above you say?" and I was like "The sign says 'Northwest!' The only thing I see is the underside of an overpass! There are '2's' everywhere!" But anyway, we eventually found one another, then we loaded up and wet to pick of Shannon, and headed to In 'n' Out burger for dinner. THEN! We went to this place that sold nom-tastic ice cream cookie sandwiches, and we saw Prime and Bumblebee! They were parked outside! I only had my phone with me, but I got some pics of them! XD Then we dropped off Shannon and met her awesome kitty, and then dropped off Ellen and met Skip and their awesome kitty, and got hooked up with FREE COMICS! XD Bizarre New World! Autographed and everything! X3 I haven't gotten a chance to read them yet. Haven't gotten a chance to read much of anything lately. x_x; But I very much look forward to it. It looks like it's made of WIN! X3 Then we headed back to Holly's place to settle in for the week, and Holly gave us our belated Christmas gifties! She got us each a pretty journal (Jess got a pretty blue one with handmade paper I think, and I got a nifty red one with a lock!) and 2 pairs of awesome earrings. Holly has excellent taste in earrings. X3 She also gave me some adorable li'l mini skateboards and tiny ceramic vases, and a li'l ceramic bathtub fulla' li'l soap and lotion and stuff. Wee!!! XD

Monday we got up pretty early, and Holly showed us around some. We hit two malls and two comic book stores. I got a couple of comics to fill gaps in my collection, and also the second volume of the DC Martian Manhunter Showcase. We also went to some other fun shopping destinations, like Frys and a spiffy little doll/dollhouse shop. ^_^ Then we met up with Ellen and went to Little Tokyo and had ramen and saw lots of nifty Japanese/import shops! XD I got some paper strips for making origami stars, and this set of hilariously obviously unlicensed Transformers stickers that go on a computer keyboard. X3 Now Yamamoto-san has colorful robot stickers on his keys. ^_^

Tuesday we got up around 9:30-ish and Ellen came over around 10:00-ish and we went to Arboretum! We hung out there for a while and had a lovely little bento picnic that Ellen made for us. Then Ellen took some graduation photos of Holly, and we took some pics of our TF boys. I took many pics of Magnus and Holly's Bumblebee. I was trying to take a pick of them on a precarious ledge, but accidentally dropped 'Bee in the sludge-water! D8 We gave him a bath later, though. X3 Then we went to the Arclight theater and saw Bumblebee, Sideswipe, Ironhide, and Optimus! They were all at the theater, and we took several pics of them. I will have to post them later. Then we left for a bit, and came back to catch the midnight showing of Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen! Michael Bay was there, and that was exciting! The movie was okay. I really wanted some more substance. Like character development with the robots and stuff. But it was about what I expected. I may see it again.

Wednesday we hit the comic book store again! I picked up the new Star Trek: Mission's End comic, and Holly got the new All Hail Megatron comic! I read it and I was like "WHAAAT!? O_O" But then that seems to be how I've reacted to almost every issue of All Hail Megatron. I'm anxious for the Coda issues now. MORE NON-MOVIE-BASED TRANSFORMERS COMICS PLEASE! Anyway, after all that we went to Hollywood! We saw the walk of fame and all that, and went to the Chinese Theater! It was pretty freaking awesome. There were lots of interesting shops around there, too. There was one where you could get custom contacts! Totally gonna' hit that place up some time in the future. There was also a place with lots of costumes and wigs and things like that, but they were closed by the time we got there, unfortunately. I'll just have to check it out another time. After that we picked up Shannon and went out for Sushi! It was delicious. X3 My tummy started to hurt a bit, though, so I let Holly finish off my sushi. It was fun, though. We were all being stupid and hilarious. X3 I had a freaking blast.

Thursday we went to Kinkos and Jess and I faxed our resumes to this one place that advertised a job opening. I also made some copies of my resume and cover letter and all that with the intent of passing it out a few places. Jess and I are planning to move out there in a few months, and we figured it would be a good idea to try to get a job. Anyway, Ellen picked us up, and then we headed out to meet Batchix! On the way we stopped at a nifty Japanese market and I bought some snacks and Volume 13 of Trigun Maximum in Japanese. X3 Then we picked up Batchix and she brought her beautiful Sunstreaker and Sideswipe mechboy dolls! They were even more awesome in person than they are in pictures. X3 Once we picked her up we went to another Asian market and they had all kinds of nifty stuff, and even some cool miniatures! I wanted to get some, but I was worried about trying to pack them for the plane trip home. o_o; But I figure I'll have an opportunity to get them once I move out there. ^_^ Instead I settled for 5 pairs of sunglasses, because they were only $1.50 each! SCORE! After that we had dinner at this tasty BBQ restaurant, and then we went to Barns & Noble and looked at all of their nifty stuff. Much fun was had. X3 Then dropped off Batchix and headed back to Holly's place. It seemed like we'd never get back, though, 'cause they had pretty much every exit we would have taken closed. X_x; But eventually we made it back. Ellen dropped us off, and Holly and I had a li'l photo shoot where Ultra Magnus gave 'Bee a bath to clean him of after his fall into the sludge-water.

Friday was a busy dayyy~ We got up as early as we could manage and I made biscuits and gravy for breakfast. Then we went on an EPIC SHOPPING TRIP where we revisited several places we'd already been as well as some new ones and Jess and I got vacation-prizes for people back at home. Eric, Crystal and Mom all liked theirs. X3 Still gotta' meet up with Autumn, Dan, and Rachel to give them their gifties. Then we went to the 3rd Street Promenade and checked out all the nifty shops and stuff there, including this fun toyshop where I got a cute Bumblebee keychain and a Classics Ratchet, and some li'l gifties for Holly, Ellen, and Shannon as a thank-you for being so kind and hospitable. And also 'cause they deserve gifts just for being awesome. X3 After that we went to the pier, which was fun and pretty. ^_^ There were shops and rides and stuff, too, but a big chunk of it was shut down for a private party. 8P It was fun anyway, though. ^_^ We also saw several sites that were used in the filming of the first Transformers movie, which was awesome. X3

Saturday we got up stupid-early so we'd be able to load up all of our stuff and make it to the airport in time to catch out flight. There wasn't as long a line at security as was expected, though, so we got through pretty quickly and also our flight was delayed. XP So we sat around for a few hours before boarding the plane. By the time we got to Denver we had 15 minutes to make our layover flight. We managed it, though, and we got home with no trouble.

I had a great time in California, and I hope to go again soon. Jess and I have been planning, and we think we could move out there as soon as September. I just need to get out of Bloomington. I mean, I like it here. It's a nice town, but I don't want to live my entire life knowing nothing but life in Bloomington. I'll miss my family and everything, but it isn't as though I won't visit around holidays. I just need to try to save up money to move, then line up some living and working arrangements. It will be tricky, but not impossible. As far as I'm concerned, it's going to happen. Ganbatte!!

I've been screwin' around with Tektek a bunch. I came up with these. X3

( CLICK FOR GAIA-FORMERS! )

My little buddy Ivan made me a card. Technically I guess it's not a Valentine, 'cause he made it for me weeks ago, but he just gave it to me today when we came to his birthday party. He's 6 now.

Video Explanation:


The Card

In case you couldn't make out from the video, the characters are (from left to right): Bumblebee, Bulkhead (but Ivan calls him Wreck-Gar. ^_^; ), Optimus, Prowl (Ivan calls him "the motorcycle guy"), in the upper right-hand corner is the Autobot symbol, and the red thing at the bottom is "A heart for Amy." It was soooo sweet and adorable, I could just puke. Completely made my day.

So. Let's see... since last update... urr... Work still sucks, but I'm dealin' with it.

I got some new action figures: TF:A Blurr, TF:A Swindle, Classics Hound, Classics Cyclonus, and Classics Smokescreen. *score* Now the only ones I need to catch up with releases that I actually want are Legends Beachcomber, Legends Brawn, and TF:A WRECK-GAAARRR!!!! He looks awesome! I srsly wanna' get my paws on him. X3

Jess's birthday is Friday, so I have to clean and make her cake tomorrow, then we're both off and we're gonna' go out with her mom and have lunch and stuff before her party. That'll be fun. ^_^

Went to the comic book store today and picked up TF:ROTF Defiance #1, and Star Trek Countdown #1. Defiance was good. Makes me excited to read the next one, and EVEN MORE EXCITED for the movie! Haven't read Countdown yet. >_>

Got a letter from Rachel today. I won't go into too much detail, because it was to do with her own personal life and demons she's been struggling with. Suffice it to say that she's been though some physical and emotional traumas, and she's been coping with them through various forms of "self medication" for years. I just hope I can be there for her as she starts out on her "road to recovery" so-to-speak, and that she knows how much I love her. I feel like I've failed her as a big sister to this point, and I hope I can step-up and give her the support that she needs, and be the big sister she deserves.

Diet update: Week 2
Weight: -5 lbs.
Total weight loss: 11 lbs.
Remaining above goal: 59 lbs.

So, after work yesterday I stopped by the house to change clothes, then we went to Autumn's to have dinner and play video games. X3 She made us SUPER TASTY lemon pepper chicken and steamed veggies. Then we played Rock Band II 'til almost midnight, then played Little Big Planet for a few minutes before we had to go. Then we got home, and I found that MY ALTERNATOR WHEELJACK HAD ARRIVED!! I have no idea what time yesterday it was delivered, but apparently it sat on the back step for who knows how long. Anyway, I was so excited! It took me a while to get the hang of transforming him. The first time I did it I was on the verge of chucking him out the window at a couple points. But I got the hang of him now! I was so engrossed with him, though, that before I knew it it was like 2:30 in the morning, and I was frickin' exhausted. X_x;; I meant to get online and chat with Holly a bit, but I didn't manage to do that. o_o; Hopefully I'll be able to catch her tonight.

Anyway, I took some pics of Wheeljack today. He's frickin' spiffy as hell.
( LOTS OF PICS! (Some of them are pretty big. <_<; ) )


Also, found this TF personality quiz on batchix's journal:
I AM
84%
OPTIMUS PRIMETake the Transformers Quiz
Yay Optimus~

Diet update: Week 1
Weight: -6 lbs.
Total weight lost: 6 lbs.
Remaining above goal: 64 lbs.

My new glasses came in! It's crazy how much better I can see with them! And they're a nice snazzy dark blue that matches Jack nicely. X3 I've always had black glasses, and I thought I'd try something different.

Also, got the Springer & Ratbat comic-pack at Target. I don't have much love for Ratbat, but Springer is awesome, so I waited 'til it went on clearance. Weee~ Also got TFA Swoop last weekend and forgot to mention it. Fun fun.

Oh yeah, and I PAID MY CREDIT CARD BILL! It was the biggest it's ever been, 'cause it had Jess's and my cell phones, my glasses, all my Christmas shopping, and the Alternator Wheeljack I ordered. BUT! I make a point not to spend more than I have in the bank, and I had extra money in the bank from Christmas and Birthday money, so it wasn't a problem paying it all off. But now I'm wiped out and I need to start my saving over again. Needa' save up for my VACATION this summer! X3

YAAAYYY!!! J.R. called me at work today to tell me that Jack is all fixed! I picked him up today, and now he's HOOOOMMMMEEE!!! XD!!! I missed him so much! And he doesn't squeak anymore. o_o 'Guess I can't call him "Squealjack" anymore. Oh well. I'm so happy to have him back. No more driving mom's slug-car for me!

Also, it's Wednesday! I went to the comic book store, but they were all out of Maximun Dinobots #2 by the time I got there. u_u Oh well, I'll either get it online, or see if they get more of them in. Anyway, since they didn't have anything I wanted in the new comics, I went browsing through the back-issues and I found a copy of Transformers Timelines: Shattered Glass! That was fun. It was too short, though. It was just basically like "OMG Autobots BAD, Decepticons GOOD, Cliffjumper help Decepticons foil Prime's plan!" I would have liked to see more character development and stuff. But it was interesting, anyway. Mirror-Prime scares the crap outta' me. He seems more evil than Megatron from any other continuity. And it was mentioned that he is also insane, but there wasn't really any good example of that. Well, except maybe this one part when he's at the smelting pool were he tortures and executes people, and Cliffjumper is like "What!? This is WRONG! You can't do this!" and all that, so Mirror-Prime blasts him, and then he's talking to the corpses hanging up on the walls being like "What should I do with him? Shall he join you? What's that you say? Oh alright, I'll dispose of him and hope he gets his wits back..." But I don't think that was so much Mirror-Prime being crazy as it was Mirror-Prime trying to freak-out and intimidate poor Cliffjumper. Anywayyyy... the main thing that comic did for me was to make me want G1 Prime and Mirror-Prime to meet one day, so G1 Prime could kick Mirror-Prime's aft like nobody's business. ...And then my brain starts thinking about how the characters might interact if the two universes converged for some reason, and all kinds of crazy robot pr0nz start trying to happen in my head...

Okay! My feet are cold!

My favorite scene in this issue:

( All Hail Megatron #6 Spoilers! )

SO! I went to work today, and it was my boss's first day back after his vacation. He was supposed to have another little "talk" with me about my mystery shop scores, buuuuut he didn't. I don't think he's going to. He knows I've been trying, and he knows that last month completely sucked for me, so... yeah. I didn't get fired. ^_^

Saturday I went to the license branch to get my driver's license renewed. W000t. Then mom, my siblings, and I cleaned the house all bloody day long, then we went out for dinner. Sunday I stayed up 'til 5 in the morning cleaning my room and wrapping gifts. I was flippin' exhausted the next day, but I dragged myself out of bed to finish cleaning my room and make pizzas and all kinds of stuff to get ready for my birthday partaaaay. Basically Rachel, Autumn, Dan, and Kate came over, and we ate pizza and cake and played Rock Band 'til 11:00. Autumn and Dan got me a cute little Activator Patrol Bumblebee and a gift certificate to the comic book store! Rachel got me a VHS tape of the old Mary Martin Peter Pan movie! Kate made me a party hat with kitty ears on it, and she got me the TF Infiltration manga and some bags and boards for my comics! Mom got me some pretty earrings and two T-shirts, one with the mustang logo, and one that said "Yes it's fast. No, you can't drive it." LOL! XD And Eric, Jess and Crystal all went together to get me a li'l package of FOR REALZ ENERGON CUBES! 8O!! I'll have to get some pics with them later, but I was astounded. They're about 1" pink cubes with li'l LEDs in them that you can turn on and they're SO CUTE! I can't imagine how much they must have cost, but it must have been a lot if all three of them had to chip in to get them for me! X_x;

Today we had Ivan and his sister over all day. I was at work for most of it, but before I left for work Ivan asked me how old I was. I told him I was 25, and he said "You're almost a grandpa!" That made me giggle all day. X3 After work we had our giant Christmas party that we already have on the 23rd. It was fun! The house was jam-packed with friends and family, and we got to give out gifts, and Ivan was adorable, and Rachel's boyfriend brought his 3-year old son who was also adorable. The children all behaved remarkably well, and Ivan for some reason thinks that I'm going to start training him to sword fight. I dunno where he got that idea, but it's amusing all the same.

Anyway, I have a li'l half-day of work tomorrow, then I'm off 'til Friday! I can't wait. I love Christmas. It's my favorite. Of course, I celebrate it for religious reasons, and also I LOVE to give gifts! I have a hard time making myself stop buying gifts, even after I've gotten something for everyone on my list. I just keep thinking of things that I'd like to get for people! X_x;; ...It was a little bit difficult this year, though, 'cause I'd be out shopping, and I kept seeing things I wanted to get for dad. u_u I miss him. I know he wouldn't want me to spend my Christmas mourning his absence. Dad, with his hippie spirit, was all about spreading love and joy. I can't think of a better time of year for it than this.

I got home from work today and fell asleeeeeeep. Then woke up, had a beer and some popcorn, and now it's time for bed! Whuuuut

This makes me giggle, though. X3

No pets!

I maked dis. Is grainy and bleh.



Oh, Wheeljack. Your fails are made of win.

Happy Thanksgiving, everyone. ^_^

Mom threw away my frickin' bonzai seeds! >_< It takes 'em a week to germinate, and I was gonna' be able to plant 'em on Wednesday! Now I gotta' buy new seeds and start over.

However, this is funny...
Generation II *scene* Ark mayhem
Can't help it. I love to make fun of the things I love most. X3

In my previous entry, before I went off course on a pathetic rant of whining and self-pity, I meant to comment on the fact that, aside from the election of 1964, this is the only presidential election in which Indiana voted democratic. Tah-hah. It was close, too. Feel like my vote actually mattered.

Anywayyy.... The Phee makes me happy.

Also. Spotlight Blurr today... *Squee* @ Optimus. He looks pretty. ^_^

Went out. Got cheese. Didn't clean my room. I r bad kitty.

Anyway, I went to the comic book store today, and while I was walking around I came across a trade paperback I hadn't seen before called WE3. It caught my eye because of the cool-looking bionic animals on the cover, and then I glanced through it and it almost brought me to tears. I had to get it because I really wanted to read it all the way through. It's about these three animals who used to be domestic pets, but were apparently stolen and put into this government weapons development program. They are encased in these bio-armor shells and trained to work as a team and become an unstoppable killing force. But, as prototypes, their part of the program comes to an end and they are ordered to be terminated. They escape, though, and the military sets out to destroy them, but they are just trying to stay alive and find their home. It's a sad book, but I think the ending is kind-of happy. Anyway, I recommend it.

ALSOOOOO! I got issue #4 of All Hail Megatron! There was quite a bit of Autobot-action in this one. I gotta' say, I'm lovin' Ironhide in this issue!

( !!All Hail Megatron #4 Spoilers!! )

I go to bed now. Work tomorrow. XP

A few songs that remind me of Wheeljack. Some for more obvious reasons than others. ^_^;